should i be worried if a car is registered in 3 provinces?

[david_oz]

Hi all

I'm new to Canada and have been looking for a car over the last few weeks and it has been the most frustrating experience of my life. Every time I find a car there seems to be something wrong with it.

So there are a couple of cars im quite interested in, one of which I looked at yesterday.

The dealer ran the carproof report for me and it turns out it is registered in 3 provinces, here in Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba. He tried to bullshit me - i couldn't see his screen and he was sitting there saying "yep, all looks fine to me", but I got him to email me the link, and checked it when I got home.

It has also had $5k of damage to the rear left of the car, but I don't think that would be too difficult to run up (esp on a 1 year old car at that time) - although he did lie about that too.

Anyway, I've since been told by someone else that being registered in 2 or 3 provinces is quite normal in Canada - but I don't have a clue so I thought I'd come on here and find out. I don't want to buy a car and then find that some guy in Quebec actually owns it or something

Here is a link to the report in case you are interested
http://reports.carproof.net/view_report.aspx?id=C81790A02DA71C

Thanks for your help

Dave

[Supa Dexta]

That shows it was first sold and registered in quebec in 2004.. Then in 2007 it ended up in alberta and registered there. I'm not sure on the manitoba part though, as I don't see it in the list of registered dates.

[Masked Bandit]

It doesn't look too bad to me. $5k damage on the back end isn't terrible. He was probably hit from behind and it sure doesn't take much to hit the $5K mark.

I would be more concerned about buy a Ford Escape period. A friend of our had two new ones and they were both total shit. The second one went through three transmissions in 18 months. It was so bad that Ford bought it back from her.

For the same money you could probably find yourself a nice used Pathfinder.

[TomcoPDR]

That's like being in highschool, and the hot cheerleader has a crush on you, but the entire football team had already "registered" in her. What do you do?

As with the Manitoba thing, sometimes it could be an Alberta dealer purchasing the vehicle from a Manitoba auction. Or a Manitoba dealer brokering the deal and had it shipped directly from Quebec to Alberta and sold in Alberta... Lots of possiblities.

Why did you choose Escape?

Where are you from?

Welcome to Canada. Welcome to Beyond.

[Drsuce]

eastern (quebec esp) cars do tend to be alot more prone to rusting issues due to insane amounts of salt on the roads and high humidity... if it were me i'd look for a local car... trade-in's are the best if they were fully serviced at that dealer... there will be no questions about previous maintinence if an issue arrises!

I dont have much experence about the escape, however the saturn vue from 04-07 with the honda 3.5 v6 powertrain is a very solid ride :) and you dont have to worry about dents because of the poly panels :P. also to be mentioned that GM extended powertrain warranty's to 5 yr 160,000km in 2005! You should be able to pick one up fairly cheap due to the issues saturn is having at the moment

[david_oz]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR
That's like being in highschool, and the hot cheerleader has a crush on you, but the entire football team had already "registered" in her. What do you do?

As with the Manitoba thing, sometimes it could be an Alberta dealer purchasing the vehicle from a Manitoba auction. Or a Manitoba dealer brokering the deal and had it shipped directly from Quebec to Alberta and sold in Alberta... Lots of possiblities.

Why did you choose Escape?

Where are you from?

Welcome to Canada. Welcome to Beyond.

thanks for your help everyone

yes it is 100% like that situation. i really really liked the car, but it just seems a bit sus. and if im being lied to about 1 thing i wonder what else im being fed - since i dont really know anything about cars

im kind of looking at maybe a honda cr-v as well. but under $10k im only really looking at 2000 and before - and i know this is me being picky but im thinking twice for a couple of reasons:

1. the rear seats only fold down 50/50, so if i have it folded down i can only take 3 passengers, which kind of defeats the purpose of having an SUV (im going to be using it 80% for skiing trips)

2. the middle seat in the rear doesnt have a 3pt seatbelt - if im in a crash i want my passengers to be as safe as i am

so yeah.... dont really know what to do and totally sick of being lied to by dealers (they are all scumbags)

im from australia btw

[UsedCars]

As many people have already mentioned, it is very typical to have a vehicle registered in more than one province. Many used car dealers seem to buy used cars from Quebec and the case with Manitoba is likely a dealer purchased it through an Auction and then has sent it off to Alberta. So I wouldn't worry about that. You still may want to shop around. Check out AutoTrader.ca (http://www.autotrader.ca) or MonsterAuto.ca (http://www.monsterauto.ca) for other deals in your area.
Welcome to Canada btw.

[Carl64]

I would be out of there if I caught the dealer lying, who knows what else he is feeding you.


2. the middle seat in the rear doesnt have a 3pt seatbelt - if im in a crash i want my passengers to be as safe as i am

I have never seen a 3pt seat belt in a middle seat before.

Welcome to The Great White North, aka Canada, btw :).

[A2VR6]

Originally posted by Carl64

I have never seen a 3pt seat belt in a middle seat before.



Alot of cars have a middle seat 3pt seat belt... actually the Escape does have one according to this picture:

http://assets.clickmotive.com/ail/stills_white_0640/5464/5464_st0640_052.jpg

Maybe they just offered a lap belt on earlier models? :dunno: